Berry Spinach Salad with Spicy Maple Sunflower Seeds

I don’t have enough simple salad recipes on this blog. That’s the verdict I came to while flipping through my own salad archives looking for inspiration. Meal-in-a-bowl salad situations are plentiful, but simple side salads are lacking. Sometimes you’re tasked with making the green salad for a summer potluck and you want to make something special, you know?

Here’s my summer side salad solution. Chopped spinach, plenty of fresh berries (I used raspberries and blueberries, but chopped strawberries would be another great option), tangy goat cheese and a zippy balsamic dressing.

Combine all that with some skillet-toasted, candied maple sunflower seeds and you have a fantastic summer side. Just be sure to wait until you’re ready to eat before you toss the dressing with the rest of the salad, since the spinach wilts relatively quickly on contact.

Good! I’m glad we cleared that salad void for this season. I have some exciting projects in the works (stay tuned!) and a to-do list a mile long, but a side salad is no longer one of them. As always, please let me know how you like it and be sure to tag your Instagram photos #cookieandkate so I can hunt them down! I love to see what you’re cooking!

Berry Spinach Salad with Spicy Maple Sunflower Seeds

Author:Cookie and Kate

Prep Time:10 mins

Cook Time:5 mins

Total Time:15 minutes

Yield:3 side salads

Category:Salad

★★★★★

5 from 3 reviews

Summertime salad featuring fresh raspberries, blueberries, spinach and goat cheese. Toss all that in homemade balsamic vinaigrette for the perfect summer side salad! Recipe yields 3 medium side salads (as shown), so multiple as necessary. The spinach wilts quickly once it comes into contact with vinaigrette, so store them separately until you’re ready to eat.

Ingredients

Sunflower seeds

⅓ cup sunflower seeds (I used raw seeds, roasted are probably fine)

1 ½ teaspoons maple syrup

Pinch salt (if your sunflower seeds are unsalted)

Dash cayenne, optional (if you like spice)

Salad

5 ounces baby spinach, roughly chopped

1 ½ cups total raspberries, blueberries and/or chopped strawberries

⅓ cup (about 2 ounces) crumbled goat cheese

Balsamic vinaigrette

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

½ teaspoon Dijon mustard

½ teaspoon maple syrup

Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

To prepare the sunflower seeds, warm a small non-stick skillet over medium heat and add the sunflower seeds. Let the sunflower seeds warm up a bit, then pour in the maple syrup, a pinch of salt and a tiny dash of cayenne pepper, if desired. Toast the seeds while stirring constantly until most of the maple syrup has evaporated and the sunflower seeds are turning lightly golden on the edges, about 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer the seeds to a plate to cool.

In a serving bowl, combine the spinach, berries, crumbled goat cheese and sunflower seeds. In a small measuring cup or bowl, whisk together the vinaigrette ingredients until emulsified.

Just before serving, drizzle in enough vinaigrette to lightly coat the leaves (you might have leftover dressing) and gently toss (careful with those delicate raspberries!). Serve immediately.

Kate! This looks so refreshing and the perfect simple side salad to throw together to bring along to a family gathering, or to eat for lunch after too many treats on the weekend :)
Love the berries as the star player!

I hear you with the salad thing! I feel like I make myself these salads I *think* are simple, but when I actually write them down for the blog I’m like whoa… there are way too many ingredients in here haha. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing! But you’re right, sometimes simple salads are the best :)

I received a strawberry dressing as a gift recently and have been looking for a nice spinach salad recipe to go with it that’s not the boiled egg variety. I love this recipe and I love the extra crunch of the seeds!

This does look like the perfect seasonal side salad! I have a ton of raw sunflower seeds on hand and I’ve been trying to use them up in salads, but they aren’t my favorite thing in the world. I think I’ll enjoy them more if I jazz them up with some maple syrup and cayenne pepper :)

I tried this last night and it’s fantastic!! My 2 boys, aged 8 and 11 loved it as well and that isn’t always easy as they can be fussy eaters. I made it just as the recipe stated and it was perfect. I will be making it again very soon. Thank you!!

We can’t get enough of sunflower seeds. They’re a great salad topper and a nutritious and filling snack. You should check out Super Seedz brand and their awesome flavors (especially the Maple + Sea Salt) — we have their products in our app!

thanks for the inspiration. I have never tasted baby spinach as a salad, I have always cooked it. So this was a grand premiere for me. I used blueberries… And since I am currently heavily into sprouts I mixed them in as well, also because I was to lazy to make the sunflower seeds. The dressing is great, I never used maple sirup – makes a nice note and suits the balsamico very well.

I made this salad for guests the first day you posted it. Added strawberries, blueberries and raspberries since I had them all on hand.
The salad was AMAZING! We all agreed that it was the best salad any of us had ever had! The maple glazed sunflower seeds are the crowning touch!
Great job, Kate.

This is amazingly delicious, and so quick to make. Love the heat of the cayenne on the sunflower seeds. I use so many of your recipes and am enjoying the new cookbook with the beautiful photos. Congratulations!

I just made this salad to eat with the mediterranean stuffed tomatoes with quinoa, and it was delicious! Such a good late summer light and refreshing meal. Also, the spicy maple sunflower seeds are a game-changer! I made a bigger batch and am storing them to add an extra kick to any salad!

Hi, Ingrid! I’m currently working through all my recipes and manually adding the nutritional information to them. It can take a while, especially with the amount of recipes I have! In the meantime, here’s a nutrition calculator that might come in handy.